The PMO doesn't need to pay anyone to astroturf, they have the boobs in the Blogging Tories and other assorted rightwing internet loony tunes like Dodo and Hunter who would be absolutely honoured and thrilled and more than a little damp at the prospect of helping out a "great leader" strongman-type as they picture Stephen Harper to be. Payroll? Ha! They probably dangle such an "opportunity" in front of some of these rubes as a fundraiser."For the gift of just $100, we will send you a special internet brownshirt kit of your very own, with a secret decoder ring, a 8x10 of our Leader in all his sweater-vested glory and how-to guide with ten easy ways to annoy LIEBRULS on the internet! For an additional $100, we will send you a copy of the CPC intruction manual on how to screw up committee meetings autographed by John Baird"

"As one of the originators of the DeSmogBlog, and as its financial backer . . ."

And there's nothing wrong with that either, but transparency should be good for an issue no matter where you stand. However, this fact is buried in a blog post from years ago and does not appear in the "About Us" section.

The DeSmogBlog team is especially grateful to our benefactor John Lefebvre, a lawyer, internet entrepreneur and past-president of NETeller, a firm that has been providing secure online transactions since 1999.